Inadequate sense of time

Loss of sense of time
Inability to organize time
Temporal illiteracy
Poor time-keeping
Elastic time structures
Undisciplined concepts of time

Incidence

Some people, especially in certain developing cultures, do not structure time in ways which permit them to follow programmes which require actions at different stages. In the simplest case, medical prescriptions involving a course of treatment over a period of several months cannot be followed because the person forgets to take a pill after the first few days. This is especially important in the treatment of leprosy, for example, which requires regular doses over an extended period.

Claim

The process of economic development is seriously impeded by the time values of local cultures, especially as interpreted by the indigenous labour force but also at the policy, planning and managerial levels. Workers in certain cultures are slothful, unpredictable and unreliable and have no sense of the future or of how to plan ahead. In the light of the values of industrialized societies they are unpunctual and undisciplined, caring only for the moment. In such cultures people tend to be settled into traditional behaviour patterns, are slow to initiate new activities and slow to react to new possibilities.